Thursday, 21 February 2013

'Kids Need To Read' is Design Kreeda's new friend!

I know... I am writing after a long time! I feel a blog is worth writing only if the content is interesting and worthy of reading. Dont you think?

This is one of my exciting (and challenging) tie-ups! Recently joined hands with an organisation called Kids Need To Read - An organisation run by an enthusiastic group of people who are dedicatedly working towards 'inspiring imagination'! And what better way than BOOKS to do so!!

When I first learned about the concept of distributing books to kids with a goal in mind ... I was amazed! I think it is a brilliant way to spread the joy of reading :)

They work on various topicsto create a culture of reading for children by providing inspiring books to underfunded schools, libraries, and literacy programs across the United States, especially those serving disadvantaged children.

I consider myself very lucky to have bumped into Denise Gary - Executive director of KNTR and Robert Gary - A photographer at one of my exhibitions. Denise was one of my happy customers :) She bought a tote bag and I remember clearly cos other than the colors, motifs, craftsmanship, she was thrilled about the peace symbol on the bag (she calls it her 'peace bag' :))

Little did I know that an amazing concept was in her mind and up for execution - Kids-N-Peace!

Peace - A very important topic that needs to be understood and practiced by kids today.

We were lucky again to bump into each other at another event and once we got talking... ideas started floating, meetings got fixed and excitement was at its peak! She explained how she and her team were working on the topic 'Peace' and was looking for ideas/products/services to spread the message.

I visited their work place... a very pretty, cozy house turned into an office with books everywhere :). It felt like sitting in a huge bucket of books!

I learned a lot about the organisation and the entire concept of KNTR.

I kept thinking why they were so eager to do the peace project. I mean sure, it is a very important aspect of life and kids must understand it but I got to know the seriousness of it only after Denise explained that according to the survey, most kids who drop out of school... as early as eighth grade is because of being bullied!!

That was rather sad and also an eye-opener... So taking this very seriously, KNTR is compiling book sets for different age groups of students and distributing them to various schools and libraries. They are doing extensive study on student behaviour and accordingly conducting counselling sessions for kids.

When Denise approached me for this project, I had no reason to say no. Design Kreeda is extremely happy to contribute for this cause and thankful to KNTR for considering me and giving such a great opportunity to try and make a difference :)

It was very thoughtful of KNTR to mention Design Kreeda's contribution in their newsletter -

About

Kreeda, meaning a pleasurable activity in Sanskrit, is an Indian brand that offers women wear, accessories, graphic solutions, fabric art and much more. It breathes ethnicity and culture that reflects boldly in its products. Design Kreeda is the brain child of me, Kanchan Gokhale-Sumant, an artist who believes that ideas are to be implemented and enjoyed in every possible form.
Therefore extending this pleasurable activity to a pleasurable design experience for you...